'The Voice' Coaches Talk Before Season 6 Live Playoffs

Live playoffs for The Voice are just two weeks away - and so BFTV snagged a few quick words with coaches Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Usher and Shakira about potential changes in their strategies, what they've learned from being coaches, and who might stick around for this fall's Season 7.

While you're watching tonight's battle rounds, know that yes, they really are as agonizing as they look on TV. "That's the worst part of the job," Blake told us. "Anything that's in between the blinds and the live shows sucks for coaches, because the first thing we do is beg these people to pick us and be on our teams. Then we kick half of them out, [and] then we kick half of them out again."

Ultimately, sometimes picking a winner is less scientific and more relying on gut instinct. "That's really what it comes down to," he continued. "Because everybody did great. There were just great performances across the board, and you kind of just go, 'Out of these five, [which] three do I think have the best chance of winning this thing?'"

What kind of strategy changes do the coaches foresee going into the live playoffs? "I just look at everything he's doing and I try not to do it," quipped Adam.

"Which is why he hasn't won as many times as I have," retorted Blake.

"I've only won one less time than you have," replied Adam, "and I told you, I'm going to win this one again."

The million-dollar question, though, is less who will win Season 6 and more who will still be around for Season 7, which begins shooting in the fall. With Pharrell Williams having been announced as the replacement for the exiting Cee Lo Green, we asked Adam and Blake if they intend on keeping their big red chairs for at least one more cycle. Neither of them are sure quite yet.

"There's definitely going to be a Season 7," Adam told us. "Whether or not I'll be on it, I'll have to check my schedule."

"I hope to be," said Blake. "I hope to hell I am."

We asked Shakira and Usher, who are completing their second season coaching, what they've learned so far from the experience. "So much," she told us, giving a special mention to her team's advisor. "I was able to bring Miranda Lambert as a mentor, and that was an extraordinary process of [being able] to observe her and to kind of learn from her. She's an amazing artist. That's one example of the many things I've learned being at The Voice. And also learning about myself through [the singers] and through their own process."

"This has become routine in a lot of ways. and for us we're kind of re-living all of what the passion of being an artist is about," added Usher. "That's what I learn or am actually just reminded of. Like 'Man, I remember the first time the lightbukb went off in dealing with a certain thing or a certain hurdle I had to jump over.' And helping them find it."

For all the Voice coaches, the bottom line is making a difference in the lives of the artists that they're working with. "I'm going to be supporting my team a hundred percent," said Shakira. "Just doing it in every possible way. Psychologically, morally, nourishing them and nurturing them from a human standpoint.

"But also artistically, I hope to be able to share with them everything I've learned over the years, and contribute in some kind of way to the lives of artists and to their careers, so they can continue and pursue their own goals and dreams regardless of what happens."